This copy of "Poems of Stephen Crane" arrived at the Lafayette Jefferson High School library last week with a note from someone in the class of 1973: "I finally finished it!"(Photo: Photo provided by Christy Diehl)

Actually, there are no overdue fines at the school’s library, just the expectation that a missing book either needs to be replaced with an identical copy or with cash equaling the value of the book when it was purchased, said Christy Diehl, media specialist at Lafayette Jeff.

“We have received books from people before, but usually they are recent graduates who are cleaning over the summer, or other public libraries where our books get returned to them, instead,” Diehl said. “There has never been anything to this extent where a book was returned around 45 years later.”

Diehl said she figured by the number of stamps on the package waiting in her mailbox Friday morning that the brown shipping envelope probably contained a book being returned. She said there was an Indianapolis postmark over the six American flag forever stamps.

The 62-page book inside featuring the American novelist and poet – best known for his novel, “Red Badge of Courage” – was published in 1964 by Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

“There was a collective sense of, ‘This is incredible,’” Diehl said, after she showed the book to others at school and shared a picture on a Future Ready Librarian’s Facebook page. “Why now?”

The book itself offered few clues about who in the Class of 1973 – which would have been around 500 students – had the book.

“There were not any of the traditional sign in/out cards that are in the back of the book,” Diehl said. “The only identifying marks that it belongs to Jefferson High School were the stamps on the book’s spine and on the title page.”

Diehl joked about wondering how that Jeff grad – who would be 62 or 63 today – did on his or her assignment. She said the book could wind up back in circulation in Lafayette Jeff’s library stacks.

“It was returned in great shape,” Diehl said, “and it is a refreshing reminder about second chances, taking ownership, good grace and humor.”